Judge seals key document in Clare murder case

A Clare County judge on Wednesday approved a motion to seal a portion of a court document in the Floyd Odell Dennis murder case.

After noting that Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis and a defense attorney representing Oanh Kieu Bass both wanted a portion of the affidavit supporting the arrest warrant sealed, 80th District Judge Joshua Farrell said he found cause to keep part of the court document sealed prior to trial.

Agreeing with Ambrozaitis’ assertion that part of the document contained information that could jeopardize a witness or Bass’ right to a fair trial, Farrell said those grounds outweigh the interest of the public in obtaining the information.

Ambrozaitis filed a motion Friday to seal the affidavit, but said during a hearing Wednesday in Farrell’s courtroom in Harrison that she compromised and provided the Morning Sun with the parts of an affidavit supporting the warrant to arrest Bass for the murder of Dennis in January, redacting some information that she said would harm the ongoing investigation if revealed.

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Farrell noted that the public’s right to information is very important but in this case, he said, the defendant’s due process rights and information that could identify a witness or police procedure should be kept under wraps until a preliminary hearing or trial.

Ambrozaitis said it can be difficult to strike a balance between the right to a fair trial and the press’ right to obtain information, and said some information in the affidavit will be used a trial and jurors must consider those facts from testimony and not from the media.

Ambrozaitis also told Farrell that she compromised and provided the affidavit with some information redacted to the Morning Sun.

“The people are not trying to keep secrets,” she said. “The information will come out in due course.”

Mt. Pleasant attorney Tom Weiss, on behalf of the Morning Sun, filed a reply to Ambrozaitis’ motion, arguing that the matter isn’t about the Freedom of Information Act and that the defendant already had due process based on a magistrate finding probable cause to issue an arrest warrant.

Weiss also argued that Michigan law dictates that court records including the affidavit supporting the criminal complaint must remain open to the public.

“I would submit to the court that the issues of availability of the files ... are well established,” Weiss said, adding that the contents of the document are in the public domain.

Weiss questioned the boundaries if the court begins parsing information.

“Where do we stop,” he said. “What’s good?

“What’s bad?”

In closing the redacted portion of the document to the media, it is closed to the public as well, Weiss said.

“Talk about a slippery slope,” he said. “Where does that stop?”

While Ambrozaitis argued that Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct require prosecutors to take reasonable care to keep undisclosed information that could affect the right to a fair trial, Weiss said the public has the right to know why Bass was charged.

“The public should know how the government has decided to charge this lady with a capital crime,” Weiss said. “The affidavit is integral to that warrant.”

In ruling on the motion, Farrell said he will send copies of the original affidavit and the one in which information was redacted to the State Court Administrator’s Office as law dictates.

Susan Field can be reached at 989-779-6075, sfield@michigannewspapers.com or follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/susan.k.field.